How Did You Know?
by MyFictionalFavorites
Summary: "Before, when you were talking with Sam and Genevieve…how did you know I wanted you to kiss me that night? I never told you that." Because we all wanted another Nick and Jess scene at the end of "Sam, Again." This is my version of that.
1. Chapter 1

**My first New Girl FanFiction piece. Because we all wanted another Nick and Jess scene at the end of "Sam, Again." Here's how I thought it could go...**

 **These characters do not belong to me. They belong to Liz Meriwether and the other brilliant minds at New Girl.**

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As soon as Genevieve left the apartment, Jess and Nick remained seated on the floor, taking a silent moment to reflect on the craziness that had just taken place. Nick had gotten punched in the throat…again. Genevieve broke up with Sam right in front of them, and Jess had just accepted her dream job offer. All this had occurred just in the last hour, and Jess needed a moment to let it all sink in.

"Did all that just happen, or is this flu causing me to hallucinate?" asked Nick, who was still sitting beside her, securely wrapped up in her quilt.

"I'm pretty sure it really did happen, unless I'm sick too and we had the exact same hallucination," Jess replied.

"If you get sick too, Schmidt is going to straight up murder all of us and find new roommates who never get sick."

Jess laughed. "That is exactly what he would do."

The two sat in comfortable silence again, unless Jess remembered what she had promised Nick earlier if he talked to the chair.

"Well," Jess said as she got to her feet, "It's soup time. I would do homemade but I don't think we have enough of the ingredients I need. I think we have canned chicken noodle. You like that, right?"

"Jess, you don't really have to do that, it's fine."

"No, I want to. You got me a job! My dream job! I should be kissing you!"

The words left her mouth before she even registered the significance of them. _Why did I say that?!_ She wondered silently. _I guess all that talk about our first kiss is still on my mind._

Fortunately for Jess, Nick chuckled and replied with, "That's exactly how we got into this mess in the first place, young lady! "

"Oh yeah, good point." She attempted to casually laugh as she started pulling out the familiar red can and a pot from the cupboard. Despite feeling a little awkward by even bringing it up, Jess was reminded of a comment Nick had made earlier, when he was talking to Sam and Genevieve about their past dating relationship. Should she dare ask Nick what he meant?

As she poured the soup into the pot and set the oven timer, she decided to go for it. Besides, maybe his fever was so high that he wouldn't even remember that she had asked. Why not go for it? Yeah, that seems logical.

"Hey, Nick?" She started cautiously.

"What's up, Jess." he responded, still sitting in the exact same spot in the other room.

"If you don't want to answer this, that's totally fine. Not a big deal. I don't even need to ask it. I'm super breezy."

"Yeah, that's you, Jess. Super breezy." He said, and she knew that he was rolling his eyes, even though she couldn't see them.

"But seriously though, you don't have to answer."

"Hang on," he said, before he got to his feet and grabbed a seat close to her at the counter. "Alright, Jess, now you got me curious. What is it?"

She turned around to look at him, but decided against looking directly in his eyes when she asked her question. "Before, when you were talking with Sam and Genevieve…how did you know I wanted you to kiss me that night? I never told you that."

Once the words left her mouth, she mustered up the nerve to look at him again in order to see his reaction. When she looked, she noticed that he had an ever-so-slight turtle face, the very one that she secretly liked after all these years.

"But you did, right? I mean, you didn't correct me when I said it."

"But how did you know?" Jess tried to keep her face impartial.

The turtle face was now replaced by a satisfied grin as he looked down at the counter. "Yeah, that's right. I knew you wanted me to."

"Nick!" Despite her best efforts, Jess also broke out into a smile. "Fine, I did want you to. Now please, answer the question!"

He remained quiet for a moment, but Jess could tell by his expression that he truly was deep in thought. She blushed at the thought that Nick was probably also replaying the night of their passionate first kiss in his mind.

"I didn't really know for sure at the time. I didn't plan to kiss you. You know me. I never do things if I don't know exactly what's going to happen afterwards. But they had locked us up, and everyone was screaming at us to kiss. And then I majorly screwed that up. And then everyone thought I was jumping off the building. And then Sam took you away. But then later, despite the stupidity of that beautiful, beautiful trench coat –"

He laughed at that, and Jess quickly joined in.

"And our insane neighbor with the dog with way too many names, I remember thinking that you called for me when you heard the scratching at the door. Not Schmidt, not Winston, not even your boyfriend Sam, but me. And earlier that night when you first heard the scratching at the door, you called me."

He looked up at her.

"It felt really good knowing that you needed me. That you…knew that I would protect you. So that night, I kissed you. And when I felt you kissing me back, Jess…" With that, he trailed off and broke the eye contact, seeming to be self-conscious.

She was quiet for a moment, and then, "It was the best kiss of my life, Nick."

With that, he found the courage to meet her beautiful blue eyes once again. "Mine too."

They continued to gaze into each other's eyes for a moment, and Jess was taken aback by the deep tenderness in his eyes that she had not seen in a long time. Way too long. It was only at that moment that she realized how profoundly she had missed seeing this side of him. She had needed him. She had known that he would protect her. If she was being honest, both of those things were still true. She needed him.

 _Riiiiiiiiiiiing!_

They both jumped as the oven timer loudly interrupted their thoughts, as Jess quickly spun around to turn it off. Feeling flustered, Jess grabbed a bowl and hastily poured the soup, managing to spill several drops on the counter.

"Whelp, here you go! You need crackers, don't you? I don't think we have any." Jess proceeded to quickly open the cabinets and rapidly dug around each one without finding what she was looking for.

"Jess, stop, I don't need stupid crackers."

"Of course you do, Nick! What's chicken noodle soup without crackers? Ugh, we don't have any! I better go grab some from the store. I'm going to get you guys some more flu medicine too. And I think we're out of toothpaste! And toilet paper!" She hurriedly grabbed her purse and headed toward the door.

"Jess! "

She didn't stop.

"Jessica! Hold on a second!" Nick attempted to get off his seat, but was having some difficulty as he was still tightly wrapped in Jess' quilt.

Without looking back, Jess was out the door.

 _What the heck was that?_ Nick stared at the door that she had just walked out of, still reeling from the vulnerable moment that they had just shared.

After shutting the door, Jess turned around in the hallway, leaned her head against the door, and closed her eyes. _What the heck was that?_

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 **Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you so much to everyone who has read my story, and especially to those who have reviewed, favorited, and followed. Obviously this story ignores the way the rest of Season 5 played out, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Enjoy!_

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 **Chapter Two**

Jess may have found herself at the local grocery store, but her mind was at a completely different place entirely.

 _What just happened?_ She thought. _Why did I freak out and run away? And did I say something about…toilet paper?_

The more she replayed the conversation she had just had with Nick in her head, she allowed herself to start thinking about Nick again in a way that she had suppressed for the past 2 years. Their breakup had been so devastating to her that she didn't really allow herself to think about Nick in that way for a long time. However, talking about their first, magical kiss, and seeing the look on Nick's face when he talked about it, was starting to change everything.

She hadn't really thought about it until now, but there really was a reason she had called him and no one else that even when she was scared. Sure, he was the kind of guy who would eat raisins out of her purse or become convinced that he had met the future version of himself. But he also was the guy who would leave Schmidt's "rebranding" party to make sure she was okay after she had been fired. He was the guy who drove everyone to Candy Cane Lane and banged on doors in the middle of the night so that she could see the lights.

 _He still is that guy_ , she thought. _I just haven't seen in that way for a long time…until now. Do I still love him? Maybe I never really stopped…._

While Jess allowed herself to revisit her old feelings for Nick, she all of a sudden felt both nervousness but also excitement at the thought of returning back to the loft and talking with Nick again. Jess hurriedly grabbed the items that she came for, and headed straight for the check out lanes.

When Jess walked back inside the door of the loft, she noticed that Nick was no longer in kitchen. However, she saw the bowl that she had set out for his soup already in the sink, and she smiled in spite of herself. It made her happy that she had been able to do a little something for him, even such a small gesture as making him the soup that he really liked.

Feeling bolder than before due to her grocery store musings, Jess decided to look for Nick. She stuck her head in the doorway of his room, only to find Winston, Schmidt, and Cece inside and Nick nowhere to be found. Oddly enough, none of them seemed to acknowledge her presence; they all were completely engrossed in some show they were watching on a laptop. Though she could only catch a few words from the show, it definitely did not sound like English. Weird.

After taking another peek in the kitchen, living room, and even the bathroom, Jess headed toward her room feeling very puzzled at to where Nick would be. _He didn't leave the loft looking for me, did he? He was definitely too sick to be wandering around downtown LA!_

Just when Jess started imaging terrible thoughts about what may have happened to Nick, she opened the door to her bedroom and found none other than one Nick Miller, asleep on her bed. _What in the world is he doing here?_ _Why MY bed?_

Yet, once again, Jess found herself with an involuntary smile. _What happened to me? Why can't I stop smiling whenever I think of Nick?_

Jess walked over to the other side of the room so she could look at his face. He appeared to be asleep, but as soon as Jess took a step in the wrong spot, a creak in the floor caused Nick to begin to stir.

"Jess, is that you?" He sleepily questioned as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

"No, it's another brunette, blue eyed woman with an adorable floral print dress who happens to be in my room." She joked with a kind smile. "Of course it's me, you dope. But the real question is, why were you sleeping in my bed?"

Nick pulled himself up to a sitting position; his hair was disheveled in a way that Jess thought was pretty darn adorable. "Everyone's watching the North Korean propaganda show in my room. Besides, I wanted to make sure I could talk to you after you ran away earlier."

Jess sighed. "Nick, look, about that, I'm really sorry for being so weird-"

"No, Jess." He interrupted. "Look, I brought up all that stuff earlier when Sam and his girlfriend were here, and I know we don't really talk about that anymore, and we probably shouldn't, so it's my fault that it got weird. So I'm sorry."

At his words, Jess started to feel panicky. Did he regret bringing it up? Did he not even like thinking about when they had been together? Just when she had started to open up her heart again to her feelings for Nick, he seemed to be shutting it down. " _We probably shouldn't." He had said. What does that mean?_

As usual, Nick was perfectly in tune with her emotions, as he could clearly interpret the distress upon her face.

His shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes, sighing. "Don't be upset, Jess. Please. It was stupid; let's just forget all about it." He started standing up. "Look, me being here is probably making it worse so I'll just go."

But before he could even take a step, Jess quickly grabbed his wrist. Without saying anything, she looked into his eyes and tried to read them. She did not want him to leave. She knew right then and there that she truly did still love him, and it would devastate her if he did not love her too.

Nick was also searching her eyes, trying to determine what was causing her strange behavior. "Jess, what is going on with you? Talk to me, please. If it's me, tell me what I can do to make it right."

A million thoughts ran across Jess' mind all at once. Should she tell him? And if so, how? Somewhere in the midst of all these possibilities, another single phrase that Nick had used earlier today popped into her head.

"We really were crazy in love, weren't we?" She questioned with a quiet voice.

Startled, Nick stared at her for a moment before sitting down again on the bed. Her hand was still wrapped around his wrist, neither of them choosing to change that fact.

"Yeah." He nodded solemnly, but then seemed uncomfortable. Nervous. "But we fought too much, right? He chuckled dryly. And we missed being friends with each other. I can't lose you in my life, Jess." He was back to being solemn again, now moving his hand so that he could hold hers.

It had been so long since she had felt his warm, rough hand wrapped around hers, that it gave her the confidence to say. "But has our friendship really been better since we broke up? I don't think so, Nick. I feel like there's been some barrier between us ever since we broke up and it just… it sucks." Her voice involuntarily cracked, and the way he instantly squeezed her hand also seemed like it was done unconsciously. "I know I said that we fought too much, but I'm starting to think that that doesn't matter as much anymore. I…I think maybe I still…" Jess cut herself off, daring to meet his eyes to gauge his reaction before she admitted her feelings to the fullest extent.

"Jess." Nick began, looking dumbfounded. "I don't know exactly what you are trying to say, but I do know that my head is pounding and I can barely keep my eyes open because of this ridiculous flu I've got, so even though I really really want to have this conversation with you, I think I'd better go back to sleep so that we can talk when I'm feeling a lot better."

Now that she was no longer focused on her own newly awakened feelings, Jess was able to get a good look at him, and she realized that he really did look exhausted and unwell.

"Oh, of course you should go back to sleep, Nick. I'm sorry I woke you up! I'm so so-"

"No." He stopped her, smiling with a small, crooked grin. "Don't be sorry, Jess. Definitely do not be sorry. Will you lay here with me?" The small grin because a larger, cheekier one. "I think I need a nurse to help make me feel better. Know anyone who might be interested?"

She swatted his hand away, playfully. "I think maybe I do."

The two of them both lay down on Jess' bed, not bothering to get under the blankets. Nick gently wrapped an arm around Jess' waist, and she quickly moved her hand up to join his. She gave a content sigh, feeling for the first time in a very long time, like she was home.

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 _Thanks for reading! I'm not positive if I'm going to post any more for this story. I have an idea for another chapter, but I also have so many different ideas floating around in my head after that crazy finale! This is my first real fanfic so I welcome any advice that will improve my writing. I'd love to hear your feedback, so please review!_


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